Dark Universe (9 page)

I chuckle and pull the covers up over both of our bodies and snuggle up to him.  I spend a few minutes just looking at his face as he sleeps.  His eyes are closed with his lashes resting in a thick brush against his cheeks.  His lips are slightly parted and his features are completely relaxed.  I’ve never seen him so at peace, and it makes me feel slightly smug at the thought that fabulous sex with me could be part of what made him let go of all his tension.  I brush my fingertips down his back slowly.  As I reach the bottom of his spine I dip my fingers into the dimples there and am startled by Drake suddenly rolling over onto his back pulling me with him to straddle his hips.

“You didn’t think I was done with you yet did you?”  He rumbles and I look down to see him completely alert and eyes wide and full of desire as if he was never even sleeping. 

“B-but I thought you fell asleep.”  I stutter out my shock.

“Just giving you a break, I thought you might need it after that.”  He grins and I resist the urge to lean down and kiss his face all over.  That would be dumb.

“Mmmm.  I’m good to go if you are, cowboy.”  I grin at him and his expression darkens even further with want.

“Lola Chase, you’re going to send me to hell.  And I couldn’t care less.”

His kiss breaks off any reply I would have had, and the next few minutes make me forget about talking altogether.  My last coherent thought was it was going to be a long night.

CHAPTER 7

"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks."

- Daniel Boone

Drake breaks the kiss that had escalated from its intended chaste kiss hello, to a deep exploration of my mouth. 

“What are you doing
,
Lola?”  His tone surprises me.  Why does he seem so mad?

“I’m kissing you.  Come here so I can do it again.”  I say, trying to get him back in the moment.  I don’t know why, but I’m panicked.  I’m desperate for him to kiss me.  If he doesn’t kiss me, I might die.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!”  He shouts.

“I don’t know what you mean, Drake! I just want you to kiss me!”

“You can’t do this.  You don’t know!  You don’t know anything!!”

“What don’t I know, Drake?  Tell me!”

“You promised!  Remember you promised not to fall in love with me!”

“I tried!  I can’t stop! What do you want me to do?”

“Run.”

The stern demand and the tension in his voice scare me.  This isn’t him!  His face is twisted and angry.  He looks like a monster.  I do as he says and I turn and I start to run.  I run as fast and as far as I can.  When I think it’s safe, I turn to look behind me, and a dark shadowy form is behind me.  I instantly take in its shorter less bulky frame and it’s walking slowly towards me.  The man steps out of the shadows and I gasp. 

“Nathan!”

“Hello
,
Little Lo,” my brother says, and then he charges.

Tap, tap.

“Lola.”

“No! Leave me alone!”

“Lola!”

 I bolt upright in bed with the covers tangled around my waist and Drake next to me rubbing his eyes.

TAP, TAP!

“Lola, someone is at the door.” 

I look over at Drake and study his face, searching for any resemblance of the twisted angry monster I saw in my dream.  He frowns at me studying him, but it’s just a normal Drake frown.  Nothing like the dream.

“It was just a dream.”  I mumble to myself and breathe a deep sigh of relief.

“Are you okay?  You look startled.”  Drake asks and pushes some of my hair behind my ears to get a better look at my face.

TAP, TAP, TAP!  THUD!  THUD! THUD!

“Jesus! I’m coming! Keep your panties on!!”  I shout at the rude early morning intruder.  What kind of a person wakes up at this ungodly hour anyway?  I swing the door open and am faced with the answer to my question.

“Well good morning, Mother.  What can I do for you at six thirty in the morning?”  Mother dearest doesn’t answer my question while she takes in my sheet clad form and my disheveled hair.  She shoves forcefully through the door, scowling at me as she passes.

“What the hell, Mom?!”  I rush after her to try and stop her from making it too far, but she finds Drake in the living room putting on his boots.

“What is this, Lola Scarlet Chase!”  She whirls around and demands me, pointing an accusing finger at Drake who ignores her completely.

“Well, I thought you two had already met but, Mom this is Drake, Drake this is my mother, who was just leaving.”

“I know who he is!”  The way she says it makes me pause.  I notice she won’t even look at him.

“I know you know who he is.  He works for you.” 

“Right.  That’s right.”  She seems almost relieved at my answer which only puzzles me further.  “The question is, what the hell is he doing in your house?!”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business, but if you must know, Drake is staying here in the loft until he can afford a place of his own.”  I look towards Drake who manages a small smirk back at me that doesn’t have its usual devil may care attitude.  He gets up and makes his way to the kitchen and starts to pour a cup of coffee.

My mother snorts and runs her hand up and down in front of me, motioning towards the sheet I’m still clutching to my chest.  “The loft, Lola?”  I cross my arms and raise my brows at her in challenge.  “How long has this been going on?  You’re making a fool out of yourself, Lola Chase!”

“I’m sorry you don’t approve, Mother, but you have no say in what I do or whom for that matter.”  I hear Drake choke on his coffee at my choice of words but he doesn’t say anything.

“Lola, you don’t understand.  You can’t see him.  It just isn’t right!”

“Why?  Because he’s not a member of some social status club, and he doesn’t drive a fancy car or come from a wealthy background?”

“Lola, I forbid you to see him anymore!  This cannot continue!  The family can’t take it!  There are things…”

“That’s enough, Caroline.”  My father is standing outside my door a safe distance from the door that is still open.

 “William…”  My mother starts to walk towards him despite her objection.

“No, leave Lola alone.  Drake is a fine young man and they are old enough to make their own decisions.  I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.”  My father’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

“How can you say that?  She doesn’t know about…”

“I said that’s enough, Caroline!”  My father never raises his voice so I’m more than a little startled at his tone.  My mother doesn’t so much as flinch.  She turns her sad eyes on Drake and the derision and judgment I expected to be present on her face isn’t there.  If I didn’t know my mother any better, I would think it was pity.

She looks over at me and frowns.  “Please be careful, Lola.  I’m just looking out for you.”  She closes the door softly, with her and my father on the other side. 

“Did that seriously just happen?”  I mutter as I make my way to my bedroom.

“I’ve got to say, I actually expected worse.”  Drake surprises me and I look up at him leaning against the frame of my bedroom door holding
two
cups of coffee. 
Smart man.

“How on earth could you be expecting worse than that miserable debacle?”

I raise my eyebrows at him and he just shrugs.  “I’ve been party to parental disapproval a few times before today.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?  Other girls you’ve dated had parent’s that didn’t like you?” 

“No, I don’t date.  I told you this.  And we aren’t even dating.  My father was just the argumentative type
,
and was very good at expressing his disappointment.”

The small twinge I feel
at his rejection immediately fades as I consider his words and what they could mean.  I finish putting my sweater on and walk up to him and look into his black eyes.  “Drake, are you saying your father… Did he hurt you?”

Drake laughs and hands me my cup.  “Don’t sound so shocked.  It happens every day and I wasn’t exactly a defenseless little boy.”  He takes a sip of his coffee and smirks at me.  “Hurry up; we have some stalls to clean since someone interrupted me in the middle of working yesterday.  I’d say you owe me some time with a pitch fork.”  I nod and return his smile.  The subject has been closed.

The snow doesn’t fall here.  It shoots up into your face in a whirl of white from every direction.  In the movies the snow is so pretty, almost romantic as it falls in thick clusters gracefully from the sky.  I’ve never seen snow like that in Wyoming, and right now, I’m cursing my home state for its weather.  Drake and I have been spending the weeks de-icing the automatic water troughs, shoveling out frozen horse manure, and taking the horses on short rides to stretch their legs as often as the weather will allow.  I know Drake is a little upset he hasn’t had a chance to make any progress with Ruger. 

“I got the last one,” I call out to him over the stall wall as I stab the block of ice with the end of my rake to dislodge it from the water.  The ice splits away from the edges and I reach in with my gloved hand and scoop all the ice out of the feeder and onto the ground.  Taz whinnies approvingly from behind and nudges my back with his forehead earning a scratch under the chin.  Ruger trots up behind him and nuzzles the side of his neck in the cutest little horsey Kodak moment ever.

“Do you think horses have soul mates?”  I turn around and see my father standing behind me leaning against gate.

“Oh hey, Dad,” I say startled.  “Did Drake head back to the house?”

“Yea, I grabbed his shovel from him and told him to go get a shower.  You’ve been working that poor man to the bone.”

“Seriously?”  I ask, completely puzzled.  “You worked me harder than that when I was twelve.  And besides you know he feels like he needs to earn his keep.  The man is completely set against taking anything that remotely resembles a hand out.”

“Yea, well, I just think maybe he deserved a break.  That’s all.”  He says softly.  Soft isn’t exactly unknown to my father, except I’ve never seen it displayed so fully in reaction to a
virtual stranger, and that makes me totally suspicious.

“Okay, what is up with you and Mom?” 

My father looks up at me panicked for a second and then quickly masks his expression.  “What do you mean, Lola?” 

“I mean what’s your guys’ deal with Drake?  First Mom acts like he’s the devil incarnate here on some secret mission to steal my virtue, and then you treat him like he’s our new puppy or something.  What gives?”

He looks around the barn for a few seconds as if he’s looking for someone who can come save him from answering.  When no one magically appears to offer an explanation he sighs deeply and stares past me at the horses.  “That’s a good horse.”  He says nodding to Ruger.  I raise an eyebrow at him and he holds his hands up, signaling me to wait for him to finish.  “Do you remember how old you were when you got Taz?”  He asks me.

“Yea, I was eleven, why?”

“I remember you would spend hours out here with him, trying to train him.  You and I were slaves to that horse for years, molding him and earning his trust and respect.  It took a lot of work to get him where he is.  And he is a great horse.”

“I know, Dad, I remember.”  I smile, thinking back to all of my bruises and callouses and tears in the days when Taz was nothing but a large body full of spirit and defiance. “It absolutely sucked, but he’s the best horse in the world now so it was worth it.  What’s this have to do with Drake though?”

“My point is, you had a loving, experienced father, staff, and the best arena’s and tack money can buy at your exposal and it was still extremely hard on you.  There is only one way a horse like Ruger is as amazing as she is and there is no mistaking who her master is.  I just wonder how hard it was on Drake to do all of that with nothing.”

I think about that for a second and although it makes me sad to think of a young Drake shedding blood, sweat and tears all by himself, it also makes me proud looking.  “How do you know? That he didn’t have anything, I mean.  That he didn’t have any help.”

“I just know.”  He nods at me and then turns to walk out of the stall.

“Wait, Dad?”  I call out to him before he exits the barn.

“Yes, honey?”  He asks without turning around.

“Do you think horses have soul mates?  I mean I don’t really believe in them, soul mates, or anything like that, but I was wondering.  Do you?”

My dad turns around and smiles at me and nods.  “I think some things are just meant to be.”  I don’t respond to him and he turns and walks out of the barn. 

I lock the lovers in their stall together and put my rake in the tack room before walking over to the stairs that lead up to the loft.  I can hear the water running in the shower in the back of the small room and cross to the door.  My hand hesitates over the wood plane, to knock or not to knock.  Would I seem needy if I asked to join him?
Wait a minute?  Why am I here? 
I’m frozen and tired and I have a big warm shower and bed waiting for me.  I turn around to get the hell out of there before Drake finds me invading his space.  Something screeches in the room, causing me to practically jump out of my skin.

“Holy shit!”  Drake’s cell is buzzing across his bedside table, loud and obnoxious.  I wait until the screen goes black again and turn to walk back to my apartment.  I barely make it a foot before the phone starts buzzing again.
Damn, some lady in China is getting off on the vibration from that sucker! 
A few more buzzes later and it stops.  I start to shed my shirt when the damn house practically starts shaking again.  “Fuck! I can’t take it anymore!”  I stomp over to Drake’s room and grab his cell off of his night stand, knowing I’ll catch hell for this later but I’m too annoyed to give a shit.

“Drake Thomas’s phone.”  I answer and am met with silence on the other line.  “Hello?  I know there this someone there, you only called about a thousand times.”